Saturday Afternoon Visits: August 9

My blog vacation ended up lasting a bit longer than I originally planned. Turned out I kind of enjoyed just reading and relaxing and not trying to keep up with reviews and other blog posts. I've been reading some great books. But several things have cropped up that I simply must highlight here.

Sheila Ruth recently put out a call for help at Wands and Worlds. She's hoping to encourage authors and illustrators, and other interested parties, to donate books as prizes for The Brightspirit Relief Fund's upcoming auction. The fund was started in honor of 10-year-old Emmy Grace Cherry, who died, along with her parents, in a tornado in February. There's a whole connection (including the name Brightspirit) with the Warriors series, by Emmy's favorite author Erin Hunter, but I'll let Sheila tell you the whole story. Please do click through and read Sheila's moving words about this young booklover, who didn't get to read nearly enough stories.

Stacey from Two Writing Teachers and Megan Germano from Read, Read, Read then each awarded me the Arte Y Pico Award, "based on creativity, design, interesting material, and contribution to the blogger community." I was overwhelmed by this outpouring of support, especially during a time that I was not even blogging. This Kidlitosphere is such an amazing place to be. I know that I'm supposed to pass on the awards, but I'm sticking to my standard response - if I mention you in one of my Visits or Literacy Round-Up posts, then I admire your blog, and feel that it makes an important contribution to the blogger community. Many, many thanks!

Getting back to business, I enjoyed this post by Bill at Literate Lives, about creating lifelong readers. Bill says "I think sometimes we're too hard on ourselves as teachers and parents. I also think some of what is seen as best practice sometimes does more harm than good." He follows up with some concrete examples from his own experiences, about what does and doesn't make reading a pleasurable experience. This is must-read stuff!

I'm late in pointing to this, but there are many interesting posts in this month's Carnival of Children's Literature, hosted by Jenny at Read. Imagine. Talk. Jenny offers personal comments regarding many of the posts, making this one a fun, chatty version of the monthly carnival. Next month's carnival will be hosted by Susan at Chicken Spaghetti.

Speaking of the community of children's and young adult book bloggers, have you registered yet for the Portland KidLit Conference? The conference will be held on September 27th, at the Sheraton Portland Airport. I know that airfares are high these days, but the conference fees and hotel fees are quite reasonable. If you can at all swing it, do come! I promise that you'll be glad that you did.

Speaking of NPR, our own Gwenda Bond from Shaken and Stirred was recently featured in NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, talking about Anne of Green Gables. She says, among other things, "It's almost impossible to imagine what children's books would be like without this book and its history".

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Saturday Afternoon Visits: August 9

My blog vacation ended up lasting a bit longer than I originally planned. Turned out I kind of enjoyed just reading and relaxing and not trying to keep up with reviews and other blog posts. I've been reading some great books. But several things have cropped up that I simply must highlight here.

Sheila Ruth recently put out a call for help at Wands and Worlds. She's hoping to encourage authors and illustrators, and other interested parties, to donate books as prizes for The Brightspirit Relief Fund's upcoming auction. The fund was started in honor of 10-year-old Emmy Grace Cherry, who died, along with her parents, in a tornado in February. There's a whole connection (including the name Brightspirit) with the Warriors series, by Emmy's favorite author Erin Hunter, but I'll let Sheila tell you the whole story. Please do click through and read Sheila's moving words about this young booklover, who didn't get to read nearly enough stories.

Stacey from Two Writing Teachers and Megan Germano from Read, Read, Read then each awarded me the Arte Y Pico Award, "based on creativity, design, interesting material, and contribution to the blogger community." I was overwhelmed by this outpouring of support, especially during a time that I was not even blogging. This Kidlitosphere is such an amazing place to be. I know that I'm supposed to pass on the awards, but I'm sticking to my standard response - if I mention you in one of my Visits or Literacy Round-Up posts, then I admire your blog, and feel that it makes an important contribution to the blogger community. Many, many thanks!

Getting back to business, I enjoyed this post by Bill at Literate Lives, about creating lifelong readers. Bill says "I think sometimes we're too hard on ourselves as teachers and parents. I also think some of what is seen as best practice sometimes does more harm than good." He follows up with some concrete examples from his own experiences, about what does and doesn't make reading a pleasurable experience. This is must-read stuff!

I'm late in pointing to this, but there are many interesting posts in this month's Carnival of Children's Literature, hosted by Jenny at Read. Imagine. Talk. Jenny offers personal comments regarding many of the posts, making this one a fun, chatty version of the monthly carnival. Next month's carnival will be hosted by Susan at Chicken Spaghetti.

Speaking of the community of children's and young adult book bloggers, have you registered yet for the Portland KidLit Conference? The conference will be held on September 27th, at the Sheraton Portland Airport. I know that airfares are high these days, but the conference fees and hotel fees are quite reasonable. If you can at all swing it, do come! I promise that you'll be glad that you did.

Speaking of NPR, our own Gwenda Bond from Shaken and Stirred was recently featured in NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, talking about Anne of Green Gables. She says, among other things, "It's almost impossible to imagine what children's books would be like without this book and its history".

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